In death, in love
by HermioneGranger0014
Summary: A fic where Harry is with his family and friends again; everyone who died - I've always loved stories where Harry was with his parents, but they're all about how his parents survived. This is the opposite. Harry dies when Voldemort finally kills him in the Deathly Hallows. And the afterlife is not what he was expecting, it's better.
Harry blinked. White. Death was white. It wasn't dark, or cold or empty. It was white. Voldemort's killing curse was still ringing in his ears, and when he closed his eyes he could see the flash of green. It was quite a beautiful shade of green, for such an evil spell.

When he opened his eyes, the light was so bright it dazzled him.

Then he realised it was actually the sun. And he was lying on grass, with his arms folded behind his head as if he had been sunbathing. Death was actually quite nice.

Then he heard screaming, and shouting, and the ground vibrating with running footsteps, and 'shit!' Harry thought, leaping to his feet and spinning round wildly. He was back at Hogwarts, he hadn't really died, the battle was still raging on and he was just lead there soaking up the sun...

"Harry?"

People were running towards him, screaming his name. He could see Ginny's hair, and someone who looked like him, and Dumbledore's purple robes...

But wait. Dumbledore was dead...And Ginny's hair was straighter than that.

"Mum?" Harry said hoarsely. "Dad?"

"Harry!"

"Harry!"

"Harry!"

Lily Potter fell to a halt a few feet from him, gasping in breath she no longer needed, and her green eyes were a shining emerald, just like his, a radiant smile on her face. Harry was vaguely aware of other people surrounding them, all pointing and chattering excitedly, but he only had eyes for his mother, and his father.

James was the exact image of him. Now he saw why people always said that. His hear was cut exactly the same way as Harry's, and fell across his head in the same tousled wave. His glasses were round, but gold, unlike Harry's black ones, and sat crookedly on his nose, his hazel brown eyes behind them beaming at his son.

"Harry," Lily breathed. And then he was in her arms. Harry closed his eyes, relishing in the feel of his mother's arms around him, for the first time ever, and felt the weight of his dad's arms as he put his around the both of them.

Harry had come home.

Lily Potter smelled like vanilla, and sunshine, and his Dad was warm. Like a furnace. A bit like Ron, actually. Ron, Harry thought, feeling a pang. He was going to miss Ron. And Hermione. And Ginny.

But for now, he had his parents again.

Eventually, his parents pushed him back to study him greedily.

"You were so brave," Lily whispered, pushing his hair off his forehead. Harry closed his eyes at the sound of her voice. He opened his mouth to reply when a familiar squeaky voice came from behind him, and he felt someone tug at his jeans.

"Mr Harry Potter, sir! Oh Mr Harry Potter, Dobby is so happy to see you!"

"Dobby?" Harry gasped, whirling round. Dobby was beaming up at him, his huge golf ball eyes brimming with tears.

"Harry Potter!" Dobby gulped, bowing low and sobbing, "Dobby has waited here for Harry Potter, with Harry Potter's family, not the other House Elves's, and Dobby knew Harry Potter would come, and Dobby knew he would see Harry Potter again. Harry Potter is his friend."

Harry could feel tears burning in his throat.

"Thanks Dobby," was all he could say, "you're my friend too"- this caused Dobby to howl - "how come you're here? Does everyone who dies-"

"Oh no!" Dobby shook his head vigorously, wiping his eyes, "Dobby is here with family. The place afterwards everyone is with their family and friends. And you is Dobby's friend, sir, so Dobby waited!

And look, sir! Mrs Tonks is here too, and Sirius Black! And Mr's Moody, but he quite scares Dobby, sir," Dobby twisted his ear anxiously, "and Professors Snape and Lupin!"

Harry spun round. Tonks and Remus were standing besides him, looking about as lost as he was, and next to them was-

"Sirius!" Harry gasped, hurling himself at his Godfather. Sirius caught him and hugged him tightly, chuckling.

"Hi Harry," he could hear his Godfather's smile in his voice. Harry pulled away, his smile of happiness stretched across his entire face.

"Watch out Harry, your face'll snap in half soon," Fred's voice said. Harry's eyes fell on the red headed twin and his smile dimmed a little.

"Fred," he whispered. Fred's eyes reflected Harry's own emotions.

"I know," he said quietly, "they'll all be okay."

"Watcha Harry," Tonks winked at him, "you look good, I haven't seen you this clean since the wedding."

Harry looked down at his clothing and snorted.

"I looked like an idiot at the wedding," he grinned, "I was in disguise."

"It suited you, mate," Fred said seriously, "ginger hair really brings out your eyes."

"He really does have my eyes," Harry heard Lily say behind him to James.

"I know, I see what you mean Remmy," James said seriously. "He looks so much like me it's quite creepy. I'm not sure I like him."

Harry turned round with a smile.

"Please, I've had enough of that to last me a lifetime, let alone from the people who made me look like this," he said with a straight face.

"I know," James said mock thoughtfully, "I think I'd get fed up too if I got told I looked like someone _that_ good looking all the time..."

Sirius punched his best friends arm.

"Harry got all his good looks and charm from me," he winked, "I was there to teach the kid myself."

"Alright Padfoot," James pretended to look mildly annoyed, "just because me and Lily were too busy being dead to educate our son in the ways of women..."

"He didn't do too well with Cho though, did he," Fred grinned, laughing.

"Aaaah Cho!" James winked at his son, "if I was there I would've helped."

"Helped?" Sirius snorted. "You completely ruined any chances I had with Esmerelda in our sixth year!"

"That was Snivellus's fault actually," James said lazily, casting a backwards glance over his shoulder. Harry saw, with a jolt, Professor Snape standing in the crowd. The ex-Potion's Master caught his eye, and Harry saw with surprise, that Snape's fathomless black orbs lacked any hatred.

"Snape's fault?" Sirius looked incredulous. "You honestly can't blame Snape for that Prongs! Esmerelda was all over you! No one fancied anyone else!"

"She fancied Snape," James said nonchalantly, "I was too vain to admit that to you."

"I, I-wha-I," Sirius spluttered. Remus and Tonks were laughing at him. "You lot can shut up," he said savagely, "just because _you're_ happily married."

Harry was still watching Snape.

"Thank you," he said quietly. Everyone fell silent. "For everything you've done for me. You're the only person who's ever tried to just protect me, and everything you did...It was all so brave. So thank you."

Snape nodded at him curtly.

"You're welcome, Harry."

Harry blinked in surprise.

"You called me Harry."

"Dying works wonders on people, make the most of it," Snape said dryly.

"Wow!" Fred put his arm around the Potion Master's shoulders. "Did Snape just make a joke?" Harry felt a pang as those words were so similar to Fred's dying words not so long ago.

"Mr Weasley, kindly remove your arm from my person or you'll spend the rest of today pickling toads for my lab," Snape said stiffly. Fred hastily removed his arm, looking slightly confused. Harry felt confused too.

"You have a lab?" He asked. "But aren't we...?"

Lily rolled her eyes and took his hand.

"Did you really think the dead just frolic in this meadow, Harry?" James grinned. Harry mock glared at his dad.

"I'm sorry, I don't really have this whole dying-thing straight yet." Despite his carefree tone, inside was a heavy sadness every time it struck him.

He was dead.

All those people he had left behind.

But Dumbledore's words rang in his ears. _Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living. And above all, pity those who live without love._

At least he was with his family now.

Lily smiled at him, her own eyes sad and knowing, and hugged him to her.

"Come on, let's go home," she said softly.

"Home?" Harry said in surprise, his head snapping up to observe his surroundings fully for the first time.

They were in a meadow, beneath a pleasantly warm sun, where about twenty familiar faces of friends and family stood. It was only then that he noticed the dirt track that widened into a small road leading to a village that looked like-

"-Godric's Hollow?" Harry said quietly. His mother was watching him with a smile on her face.

"Yes."

"It's just like-" Harry broke off in awe.

James nodded, swallowing.

"The dead is just like the living, son," he said, hazel eyes warm, and anxious. His dad was anxious. And then it struck him.

His parents, everyone, except for the other new arrivals, like him, were worried.

Worried to see how he'd take it, being dead.

Scared to see if he'd accept it.

Anxious to see if he didn't.

The only people who were unaffected by this mood were Snape, and Dumbledore, who had been observing the scene quietly, a smile on his old face.

Harry gripped his parent's hands and squeezed them tightly.

"Are my grandparents here?"

Lily's face was radiant as she smiled, and James grinned, eyes twinkling.

"Of course, darling," Lily said, smirking at James, "they're at their house, probably baking cakes, Euphemia that is, she's James's mother, you'll love her, and Mont'll probably be in the garden."

"Euphemia?" Harry's eyes grew wide. He'd never known his grandparents names. "Mont?"

"Euphemia is your Grandma's full name, "James said cheerfully, "I call her Mum, obviously, but Padfoot calls her Mia," James winked, "she hates it. Hit him with a wooden spoon last time."

"Did not!" Sirius protested from behind them.

"Fleumont is your Grandad's full name, his nickname's Mont, though," James continued, ignoring Sirius as he tried to trip him up with a tripping jinx. They still had wands? Harry reached subconsciously in his back pocket for his; it was there indeed. He wanted to ask how they still had wands, but he was eager for more information on his grandparents.

"Your mum's parents aren't here, of course, they're in the muggle bit, we visit them a lot."

"muggle bit?" Harry asked. They were walking through the village now; there were children playing in the street with a skipping rope that changed colour every time it swung round.

"Yeah, the muggle's live quite far away from here. This is Godric's Hollow, and all of the other wizarding villages and dwellings that have ever lived in the living world are here as well, every where's linked by roads and by the Floo network. The muggle's all live far over, you can only reach them if you've got muggle family and you're connected through the Floo, you can't walk there."Sirius explained.

"So, our home is here? And Padfoot, Grimmauld Place? Hogwarts?" Remus asked, hurrying to catch up with them. Tonks fell into place next to Harry, and smiled at him, her hair bubblegum pink.

Sirius nodded, warming to his theme as tour guide.

"Hogwarts isn't," Lily argued, "not really."

Everyone looked at her questionably.

"Hogwarts is the only place here that is in both places at once," she said simply. Harry fought back a grin. His mum sounded so much like Hermione. Lily sighed as no one grasped what she was saying. Harry caught Fred's eye and they both grinned, thinking about their friend.

"What I mean is, Hogwarts is set firmly where everyone is alive, and it isn't a dwelling or a home, as such, so it can't exist here because it has no purpose. But you can go to Hogwarts, you just travel back through the veil to the living version."

Harry was stunned.

"So...you can go back? To Hogwarts, I mean?"

James nodded, his eyes knowing as he saw the look on his son's face.

"It's exactly the same as everything else here, except you can see the living too," Lily said softly.

"We spied on you a lot, champ," James winked, "especially when you were snogging that black haired girl, Cho Chang."

Harry was dumbfounded.

"I could see Ron," he whispered.

"George, Mum, Dad," Fred murmured.

"Ginny," they both said together.

"They can't see you," Lily said gently, "but you can see them."

"Teddy," Tonks breathed, a tear slid down Remus's cheek.

Lily hugged the pink haired witch tightly. She must know what it's like to watch a son you can't touch, Harry thought, feeling a lump in his throat at seeing his friends but being unable to talk to them, unable to hug them.

They arrived at a small gate leading into a garden bright with colourfully blooming flowers, and rich with twisting vines that moved lazily in the sun, twining around and around the fence, occasionally eating insects that crawled along. Harry watched with a grin as a gnome ran full pelt across the grass, swearing ferociously as stones were pelted at it's back from an old wizard's wand.

Unfortunately, the gnome ran straight into some suspicious looking flat pods that were in a clump inside a large gnarled tree stump, covered in brambles. The pods opened up to reveal tons of squirming tubers as the gnome leaped onto one, and swallowed him whole. Harry remembered briefly a Herbology lesson with Ron and Hermione where they'd dealt with this plant. It was when they'd been about to get together, and Hermione had invited Ron to Slughorn's party...

"James! Lily! Sirius!" The old wizard called out a greeting, waving a hand. And then he froze as his eyes took in everyone else.

"Merlin's beard..." he whispered. "Remus Lupin?"

"Hello Mr Potter," Remus said, his answering smile subdued, eyes knowing as he saw James's fathers reaction to all the people at his gate.

"God bless all your souls," he murmured. "It's over then? Finished?"

Before anyone could answer, a woman's voice shouted from inside the house.

"Mont? Is James and Lily here? There's Victoria sponge and cream in the kitchen and they'd better get it quick before Mr Sirius Black does!"

A short lady, slightly plump with greying brown hair and glasses perched on her head, keeping the flyaway hairs from her bun off her forehead, emerged from the cottage, wearing an apron with the Holyhead Harpies flying round on the front. She walked barefoot, and stopped dead when she saw everyone standing at the edge of her garden.

"James," she said hoarsely. "James is that-"

She broke off with a gasp.

James and Lily nodded, both smiling quietly as they each held one of Harry's hands.

"Merlin's beard," she whispered. "Harry..." Tears began to fall from her eyes. She walked forwards to stand with her husband, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Hello," Harry said, his throat tight. His mum squeezed his hand.

Euphemia's eyes scanned the crowd, soft gasps escaping her mouth as she saw the new people, the ones she recognised, the ones she didn't.

"Remus?"

Remus nodded, too choked up to speak.

"Harry?" She said again.

Harry nodded as well. He could feel tears on his cheeks, but he didn't care. The weight was sudden, and enormous, as he finally acknowledged all the things that should have happened, and everything he had missed out on, and everything that everyone else had too.

* * *

 **This is new, and I'm really pleased with it, I don't know if anyone else is! I've always wanted a story where Harry was with his parents again, but not one where his parents survived, one that is the opposite.**

 **Please please please read and reviews, I NEED to know what you think!**


End file.
